I will explain what I mean.
This is something I've thought about for a while, and it's something I've had to teach myself. Subconsciously at first I was doing it, then when I realized what I was doing I was proud.
In the beginning Tom created a cottage wardrobe. I will preface here by saying that some time ago my parents bought a cottage near Gracefield, Quebec. I'm sorry if I've never taken you there, I have a problem with driving there, and I don't go often. Anyways, this cottage wardrobe is just clothes that I've worn throughout my life, all of it still fits to a degree, the pants are too big, the shirts are sometimes a bit too small, I have a Bartman shirt that I'm pretty proud of.
When I change into these clothes, I don't look like the other Tom, because he wears different clothes. There, now when I look in the mirror, I can say that I look different. This doesn't make me different, but it helps.
I couple this with acting different, and by being out of routine.
At home, you tend to follow routines, even on the weekends. You can't help it. Unless you get a 3 day weekend. Then you have this weird extra day where you go crazy trying to pack in all this super fun stuff, or doing nothing.
At the cottage, fuck it. Get up when you want, 7 a.m., 10, 1, 5, who cares. Take naps, get buzzed in the day, early, then go running, or on a boat, I don't care. Also, play board games and cheat, then when you lose, go crazy, like scream and yell. You will end up acting the way normal people in the city would tell you is insane. This is acting different. This is what you need to do.
Sometimes I start a giant fire for no reason, at like 8 in the morning. My parents and my wife aren't fazed. Sometimes they watch me to make sure I don't start a little forest fire like I have before cause the foliage tends to get close to the fire pit, but other than that, these relatively unorthodox behaviours are quite normal for cottage Tom. Because he's just not city Tom. Just not at all.
Cottages and camp sites are fun cause they allow you to escape from yourself. You can become a character you have inside you, or one that you've always wanted to try out. A different person for a weekend. At least that's how I see it. But it was my reflection on it that made me realize that it has happened naturally for me.
When I was a kid I went camping or to my aunt's cottage every summer. My aunt always kept extra plaid flannel coats in her closet, we'd don them as soon as we'd arrive and we'd take off into the bush like wild animals. We shot chipmunks, frogs, and the occasional bird with my cousin's pellet guns, we rode around on four-wheelers, chopped wood all day, dried out seaweed and smoked it like cigs, swam naked in the lake, ate entire packages of hot-dogs over the fire, and tried to never use the toilet in the cottage. All things that can never happen in the city, and all things I will never forget for the rest of my life. It's those times that taught me just what it means to be free.
ReplyDeleteWell done, cottage Tom. I'll have to introduce you to cottage Alex sometime. I think that you and he would get along formidably.
ReplyDeleteIf the girls are willing hopefully we can work out a weekend in October Alex!
ReplyDeleteBen, that's it exactly. You've gotten it, and it has reminded me of a time at a young age at my grandpa's cottage. I'd go down a hill full of trees with a skidoo helmet on, with my cousin, and on tobogans, and crash into trees. Absolutely retarded, but an absolute thrill.
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